Changes
by Phyr
Summary: John gets shipped to Antarctica and eventually meets Nuada. A take on the things that happened in between the movies.
1. The Start

Ch 1

The Start.

John was... he didn't know what he was.

Last week he had been ordered by his crush to punch her, only to watch her have her soul stolen and then be saved by his friend and partner. He could deal with that. Crushes happen and hurt when they end. It was normal.

Five days ago he had been ordered to go on a simple mission that ended up being a suicide mission. John and his team had only survived because he had run into someone he knew through his surviving uncle. Not only did she save them but she got them a ride home.

One day ago John had had his first limo ride and the powers that be in the BPRD had been less then happy he had survived. When he stepped out of the limo Hellboy had pulled him into a bear hug and then threatened to kick his ass if he ever talked to Liz again. John hadn't been able to find out were that had come from because he had been whisked away to meet with the hire-ups

They had wanted to fire him. John said three names to them. They laughed at him until one of the names dropped from the ceiling and a second called on their privet line. Apparently they had only thought he had been chosen by Professor Bruttenholm because he was an innocent farm boy that could roll with the punches Hellboy could dish out. Which was true, but right then John had been willing to let them think it had really been because of family and government connections.

John would never again complain about having to call his uncle when he got back from a mission.

Today Manning told him to pack up because he was being shipped to Antarctica Hellboy had tried for one of their basses on Honolulu but Manning had convinced him that Antarctica would be safer. Safer because the Honolulu base was a death trap for someone that had pissed off the hire-ups Manning had insinuated to John that he had made it to the top of a very long list of people that the higher BPRD wanted gone. His uncle had confirmed that and that the only thing keeping him alive was his connection to other more powerful secret government operations.

Antarctica would be safe but miserable.

John had received an insanely unsuspocious satellite phone in the form of a 'smart phone'. He was assured it was a good thing. He also got a powerful computer (with a satellite connection) also from his uncles work. Manning had assured him that he would be able to order what ever he wanted and that the shipments wouldn't take nearly as long as they normally did. They had both told him to always keep his gun on and as many knives as possible.

Manning went so far as to give John the key cards and other equipment that Professor Bruttenholm had set up for him.

Manning had gone on to say that while he had no idea what Professor Bruttenholm had known or planned. The professor had told him that John was important. That John would need all this. That all would turn out well in the long run.

It was only an hour after that conversation and John thought it was a load of crap.

Currently John was trying to ignore the giant red elephant that was trying to work up the nerve to talk to him. John didn't know what he felt twords Hellboy right now but whatever it was, it had no intention of throwing Hellboy a bone.

It took Hellboy forty five minuets to work up his nerve to talk to John.

"Hey Scout... Uh... John?" Hellboy wasn't quite kicking the ground and trying to to look like he screwed up, but John gave in either way.

"What Hellboy?" He saw Hellboys wince.

"I'msorryIgotyousenttoAntartica."

"Red, can we just not-oof" John was more then a little startled to find himself in a bear hug.

"I'm sorry! I'msorryI'msorrypleasedon'tdie."

"it's not, hang on." John pushes Hellboy back so he can breath. "Ok. First this is not your fault. Second, what do you mean by don't die?"

"It's... nothing"

"I'm not buying that."

"it's just... that... everyone I'g gotten into a fight with recently has... died. Liz, my dad..." Hellboy looked ready to bear hug him again.

"That was Rasputin. You know that this is different."

"but I shouldn't have flipped out l;like that. What I should do is-"

"is nothing." John held up his hand stopping Hellboy from talking. "No, listen to me. There are a lot of really bad people in charge of the BPRD right now and you can NOT rock that boat."

"But I-"

"No. Hellboy listen to me. These are the people that made sure Liz stayed nice an drugged. Your dad protected you and Abe from them as much as he could and Manning is truing to keep that up. But you have to lay low for a while."

"But-"

"They tried to kill me." Johns voice had been a whisper. "and if you fight this they might try to kill Liz and Abe."

". . . what?" Hellboy looked sick and for the first time scared.

"Your father chose me to take over protecting you and Liz and Abe. He never said why but... I think it's because of who ever is currently in charge here. He implied that he never wanted any of you to be used as weapons." John closed his eyes. "For now you have to trust Manning and lay low."

"How long?"

"I don't know... A few years? Maybe?" John sighed and looked up at Hellboy. "Just... Please, please try not to give Manning a nervous breakdown?"

Hellboy frowned and then pulled him into another, less lethal, hug.

"I don't like this."

John pulled back and sat down again. "I know but right now it's all we've got."

"You know Scout, you really suck at uplifting speeches. Fortunately for you I am."

Johns look, he's sure, very plainly translates to what are you planing and thank god for the change of topic. His next look is confused because just were did Hellboy pull a two foot long box from?

"open it when you get to... your new base... Sorry." Hellboy coffed. "Anyhow, I was told when I found it to give it to my friend that I screw over. Don't give me that look! It's true! Well at least your laughing. Anyhow, it's only a little broken and it came that way! But I'm sure you can fix it."

"I'm sure I'll have plenty of time." John was still chuckling. "Stop frowning. Also... Don't tell Liz or Abe the truth."

"Right... I'm the asshole. Gotcha."

"Liz'll flip and Abe will accidentally tell everyone. And I know you know that because you are the one who told me that."

"And I would be very appreciative if you never tell them that I told you that."

John rolls his eyes.

"I would also really appreciate it if I could call you for help with Liz. Abe's heart is in the right place, but the guy has less dating experience the I do. And Manning, well..."

"Fine. I'll do my best and you are way to happy about that."

"Yeah, well... Hey look at that! Your ride is here." Hellboy grabs one of Johns bags. "I guess it's time for me to be more of the bad guy."

"Yeah... I guess." John felt sick.

If Hellboy hadn't have been there he probably wouldn't have gotten onto the plane. He had gotten one rage call from Liz about something Hellboy did. Followed but an apology filled call from Abe, also about something Hellboy did to Liz. A third (as in the third time calling) call from Hellboy about what he didn't to to Liz. Then an hour before the plane was to land he got a call from his uncle wondering why he was so hard to get a hold of and how was his trip?

Eighteen hours and thirty minuets from when he left Hellboy, John still felt sick.


	2. What Now?

Ch 2

What now?

Nothing... Nothing in all his life had prepared him for this. John was including every comic book, cartoon, movie and every story his uncle's had ever told him. He did the only thing he could think of.

He called Manning.

"But WHY is he holding his- Yes it's in his hand! Really? Because it sure as hell doesn't seem safe! No I am not over reacting!"

John didn't think that he had been overreacting.

Three days later the plane came back for the rest of the guys gear due to 'indefinite medical leave'. John almost considered jumping on board and quitting the moment he stepped foot in New York. But he didn't.

Three days later John was still miserably in Antarctica.

After John had picked out his assigned room, he was told that they would be shifting over to a second base further away. That base was being decommissioned and they needed to move the vaults from there, back to here. Something to do with the first vaults being retrofitted or some such useless busy work.

Equipped with arctic grade sleeping bags he was shipped off to the second base. Fortunately the other agents with him were more then happy to voice their complaints. This didn't create any comradery but it made him feel better that he wasn't the only one unhappy.

Once there John picked out one of the old morgues for his room. There were five at the temp base and this one was the closest to the vaults. He didn't want to know why there were five morgues but it was the warmest room there that wasn't already taken. The door also had a few locks and that made John feel better.

Because of course he felt safe in a base that was covered in two foot long claw marks and surrounded by giant sharks that swam through ice. Who wouldn't?

John found that asking about the giant sharks did not make him feel safer. Apparently the local sharks were twice the of an adult megalodon and the last sighting was of one breaching the ice to grab a seagull. The agent, Bob, said that they tend to leave the giant woolly striders alone.

These giant woolly striders were in fact giant spiders that once traveled with the extinct tribe of woolly shamen that were not yeties. Which, by the way, could still be seen because of some weird time slips in the area. Didn't he mention the time slips? Yeah, they were more of a pain in the ass then Hellboys puns.

Hiding in the deeper parts of the base surrounded by tons of stone, concrete and ice made John feel better. Not safe, but better.

This whole setup was apparently not a new project. Everyone got tucked in for the long haul and John couldn't do anything to change it. He was here for the long term and that was that. Period. Done. Finished.

. . . And then something started stealing his candy.

He didn't really notice it at first. He was a couple of months in when he was looking for his last Twix. He had been sure he had left it near the stack of books under the small vent for the air exchange. When they got their next order of supplies John took a small piece of candy and put it on an old fashion mouse trap. Both trap and candy piece were gone in the morning so he had assumed the problem solved.

Until he went to put on his boot. Fortunately he always checked his shoes before putting his foot in them and the trap went off as it hit the floor after falling out of his boot. He was not amused.

This began the war of the candy.


	3. Candy War

Ch 3

Candy War

At first John had assumed that it was one of the other agents that had put the trap in his boot. They didn't seem to pay him much attention but at the same time they didn't seem to care enough to make him miserable.

What ever was stealing Johns candy didn't seem interested in anything else. Only the twix would be taken. He put out a few 'shiny' things to see if it was a pack rat but the items, while moved, were still in the same area. His phone would occasionally be moved around his desk, but never gone.

Yesterday John found a selfie of the critter on his phone.

And it definitely counted as a selfie. The saber-toothed chipmunk was sticking it's tongue out at him while... flipping him off? Or was it that little eyelid pull thing from that anime stuff some of the agents liked to watch? Maybe both... probably both.

Either way he wasn't going to risk a mouse trap again. The fuzzy thing could use his phone better then him. It probably had the whole boot thing on the internet. If he didn't work for the BPRD he would have thought this was some elaborate prank.

Then again, even in the BPRD it could still be a prank.

After a few months of searching the internet he placed a few extra things on order with Manning. He had seemed... stressed when John had asked about how things were going. More so then normal which was saying more then he wanted to think about.

Two boxes of king sized twix, a large lock box and possibly a miniature acetylene torch are to the BPRD completely normal. Manning had said it with such gusto that he caused John to facepalmed so hard he would have made Captain Picard proud.

He also found out that he could spend his own money on things that they could deliver or store for him. John said he'd keep that in mind and 'that's no fun but thanks for the idea'. That's when Manning said no pranks unless you want to do the paperwork.

Right now John didn't think Hellboy was worth anymore paperwork.

When his stuff finally, finally came in after what was maybe only a week or two but it felt like months because of another broken agent that did not understand the concept of 'do not lick frozen metal in the winter let alone in Antarctica'. John was really starting to question both the BPRD's hiring practices and just how bad was it going to be in Antarctica if it turned out that they were doing this stuff on purpose. In a much needed call, Abe had said that it wasn't done on purpose, it was just that they all caught the dumb from Hellboy.

That had made John smile.

John's plane would only work in the little fuzzy thing was overly confident about it being smarter then John. John was thus feeling pretty good about the idea. It's not like he had anything better to do with his endless amounts of time.

First John set up a stack of books on top of another stack of books. He added a book to the pile every other day or so to make it look like he was hoarding them. This was so he could rest a pair of spy glasses on them.

The spy glasses were a pair of not-so-cheap knockoffs from a particular spy movie that was played ad nauseam here at the base. (He chose to ignore the nagging little voice that told him he should have ordered some new movies as well.) the spy glasses were connected to a long cable that ran to an 'unused' computer that he 'found' in a office. It was crap but it could record a nights worth of grainy footage which was all he needed.

It took another week of twix but he finally found out how the damn rodent was getting into his room.

There was one vent on the floor and another over the desk that he suspected the critter might be using. He didn't know why that one was there but it was and it was also the one the critter was using. It would lower the cover, run across the desk, grab a twix and then pull the cover back up.

Fortunately both were smaller then a king size twix and the fuzzy intruder came like clockwork every other night. With the bait set John waited for the trap to be sprung.

A few long hours later John heard the combined sound of a muffled squeak and a candy bar hitting a wall. Trying to be sneaky, John snuck up and watched the cat sized thing backing up to try to ram the candy bar into the vent while holding it.

"ah-ha?...oops."

It stopped cold then very slowly it turned to look at him.

"Uhmm.. Hi?"

It dropped the candy bar from a slacked jaw. After it blinked a few times it looked at the vent. Then to John and back again several times. It then proceeded to point and bark/squeak/yell at him. It was very, very angry and sat down on the desk with a huff. It even kicked out it's feet and crossed it's arms.

"Are.. you ok?" John had no idea what to do with the very angry beasty.

It then decided to grumble it's way to him, climb up to his shoulders and then sit down on his shoulders again in a huff. When John offered it the now opened twix... It glared at it then snatched the twix and started chowing down on it. All the while making angry sounds and the occasional nice coo with a pat for John.

John was very confused.

"So, ok. Are you mad at me for trapping you? Because I am so confused right now." By now John was able to accept that this was a language problem on his end. In response she patted him on his cheek and cooed.

After a long night of night of note typing and many scribbled notes, John discovered that the fuzzy critter knew more about everything then everyone. It, she had the code name Professor F.Z. Brotem and helped Professor Bruttenholm with his research on Hellboy when he found him. She also designed all the bases and pretty much was older then dirt(a fact she seemed very proud of). She also managed to have very artsy cursive skills which John remembered seeing on some of the doctor's notes.

"So why arn't you in charge?"

"pffft!"

Right. So... he had learned that she designated her species as a saber-toothed flying quilled squirrel. She had cute saber-tooth teeth and kinda looked more like a sugar glider then a squirrel. Then there was the quilled tail. She demonstrated spiking it out to become a slightly-tree shaped mound of spiky death.

She had plucked a quill and given it to John before she pulled up her own public file on the computer. John was pretty sure she could have taken over the world if she wanted. She also wanted nothing to do with giving John a name. He flat out stated that he would not be calling her by her pen name. Now John was stuck in Antarctica with a squirrel with a few doctorates as a new roommate.

Things were probably going to get worse at least the fuzzy snuggles helped.


End file.
